


Lilies of the Valley

by tjmystic



Series: Birthday Fics [5]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-08
Updated: 2013-02-08
Packaged: 2017-11-28 13:54:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/675143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tjmystic/pseuds/tjmystic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She wouldn’t, couldn’t, live forever. </p>
<p>Belle would die.  And his heart would go with her. </p>
<p>He just never thought it would be so soon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lilies of the Valley

Lilies of the Valley  
Birthday Fic #6

Rating: PG-13

syddie-gurl88 prompted: Alone, Rumple succumbed to his anguish. A sledgehammer to the chest that caused his legs to buckle. He gasped once. Twice. An image appeared in his head. Belle. On her fifteenth birthday, sitting in her mother’s garden. She was crying…….

Author’s Note: Sorry this is so short, dear. The moment I started writing, I realized it would break my heart to make it any longer. Hell, it broke my heart and it’s barely a page long. That being said, I hope you enjoy it – this was one of the more creative prompts I received, if only for the way you worded it :D

 

Since the very first day she walked into his life – beautiful, lonely, and kind in a way his soul couldn’t fathom – he’d been preparing himself for this moment. He always knew it would come. His darling was mortal, after all, and he’d do everything in his power to keep from cursing her as he was cursed.

She wouldn’t, couldn’t, live forever. 

Belle would die. And his heart would go with her. 

He just never thought it would be so soon. 

Mr. Gold limped into his backroom, numb and dry and ultimately useless. He’d never again see her smile, feel the press of her hand against his neck, know the sensation of her body under his. 

The worst thing by far, though, was that she didn’t even remember him in her last moments. He’d cried out her name, pulled her close to staunch the bleeding, and only to hear her whimper, “Let me go, sir”. Sir. Her very last word was to condemn him to a life without her love. 

And it was all because of one fucking bullet.

He’d tried so hard to change for her, but it was pointless to be anything but a monster with her gone. Belle’s voice rang in his ear, told him he was better than this… but no, he really wasn’t. The last action of his sane mind was to rip Hook’s soul out with his bare hands. A heart for a heart was too good for the bastard. 

And continuing his own wretched life was too retched a punishment for himself. 

He couldn’t plunge the dagger through his own heart. But then, there were loopholes for everything. And he already had the blade in his hand. 

It took him surprisingly little time to rig the knife to the wall, hilt in the plaster with its point directed at his chest. He took a deep breath and walked forward, bracing his hands on the papered sheet rock. 

“Belle, Bae… I was never good enough to deserve either of you,” he murmured. ”But please, please, wait for me when I go. Wait so I can meet you.” He closed his eyes, relaxed his elbows. ”I love you.”

The pain was sharp, fast, just like the dagger from whence it came. His breath left in a hoarse rattle, the sound of dying if ever he’d heard it. He was free. 

Only after the blade was pressed against his spine did he realize he was crying. Not thin little tears, not silent sobs of protest, but howls of absolute anguish. The cut didn’t hurt at all - the fact that it would never touch his heart as Belle had, even embedded in the still-beating organ, did. 

He fell to his knees, ripping the hole in his chest past the hollow in his neck. The physical pain never came, but he gladly would’ve welcomed it. Anything to forget, anything to let go. 

But that was wrong. He needed his last memories to make up for hers. 

He clawed for that moment he’d first seen her, fifteen and gorgeous, crying her pretty blue eyes out in her mother’s garden. Lady Lily was dead - and now, her little girl mourned with the lilies of the valley. 

Gold gasped - once, twice - as the memory overtook him. Belle had been so busy sobbing that she never once noticed the monster lurking behind her fountain. He’d come with the sole purpose of coaxing this desperate child into a deal, hoping she might provide him with the last vestiges needed for his curse. But when he saw her, all his thoughts scattered to the winds. Not three days ago he’d told his apprentice that nothing was innocent, and now this wisp of a girl had proven him wrong. Unicorn, the universal symbols of chastity, seemed black in comparison to Belle’s purity. 

That was when he knew he had to have her. And it was then that he realized some part of him, some long-forgotten chunk of his soul, remained truly good. She was all alone, sad and defenseless, but he chose to wait until she called on him herself. He didn’t even know her, but he’d already come to realize that only she could make him right. She was the only person who could make him worthy of Bae’s forgiveness. 

But there was no Bae with his shawl torn, and there was no Belle with a bullet in her brain. 

There would be no Rumplestiltskin after tonight, either. 

He smiled, whispering both his true loves’ names as he allowed the darkness to fill his eyes. They were standing in the light, just waiting for him to return. 

He plucked a lily from the garden in his mind. No more tears for either of them, no more loneliness and hurt. They were leaving it behind. They were going home.


End file.
